Isner's Marathon Match Could Have Lingering Effects

WIMBLEDON, England -- John Isner lost Friday at Wimbledon. It was inevitable. He was spent. His legs felt heavy. There is no skin left on either small toe, which Andy Roddick said looked like sliced deli meat.

Isner's neck hurt. He doesn't know why.

His shoulder?

"Not really much pain,'' he said. "It's just kind of dead.''

Uh oh. Isner's career is in that shoulder, and it has been put through something that no tennis player's shoulder has ever been through.

He became an instant star with his first-round win over Nicolas Mahut, with a fifth set score of 70-68.

But at what cost? I'll say it straight out: I wonder if Isner will ever be the same.

Or at the least whether he'll have long-term issues.

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His shoulder might not recover with a few days of rest. Or weeks. Or months. Who knows what little tears and damage was done? Isner needs to find out before playing again.

If that 135 mph serve starts coming in at 127, then his career won't be the same.

"I'm not going to be practicing for another four or five days,'' he said after losing Friday to Thiemo de Bakker 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. "Anything but tennis. I'll watch sports. I'll take in the World Cup. I'll go fishing.''

He doesn't play another tournament, he said, for 3 1/2 weeks, so, "I do have a nice break.''

He should take it even slower than that.

After fishing, how about visiting Dr. James Andrews, the sports arm guru, to have every possible picture taken of that serving shoulder from every possible angle?

Couch at Wimbledon

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National Columnist Greg Couch delivers features and analysis from 2010 Wimbledon. Stay current with his complete Wimbledon coverage. -- Read More
Isner's neck starting hurting Thursday night, after he finished off Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. So he went to a trainer.

Did he have an MRI? Any pictures?

"No,'' Isner's coach, Craig Boynton, said. "The trainer said it was nothing he would damage more by playing (Friday).''

So what caused the pain?

"The body,'' Boynton said, "is like, 'Hey, what are you doing to me?'''

Look, of course Isner has aches and pains and a deflated shoulder. But the truth is, they don't know what's wrong with the neck or anything else.

The stats people found that they had missed one ace in his record total during the marathon. Make it 113 now. Guess how many he hit on Friday.

Zero.

In a crucial service game, which he lost at love, his first serves were coming in 20-25 mph slower than usual, at 111, 114, 107 and 110.

Isner cannot use normal methods of recovery, trusting a trainer and rest, because this wasn't a normal match. It was a freak.

I mean, even a 70-68 tiebreaker is unheard of.

Players go only every other day in majors, where matches can last five sets instead of three.

Because his long match was played over three days, stopped because of darkness, Isner served 21 games the first day of the match, if you count tiebreakers as a half-game served. The next day, he served 59 games. If a players serves, say, five games in a normal set, then he served nearly 12 sets that day.

The next day? He served 10 more games. The day after that, Friday, for his second-round match? Twelve more.



Share Imagine a starting baseball pitcher throwing a complete game on Tuesday, two complete games in a doubleheader Wednesday, 5 innings of relief on Thursday and another complete game on Friday.

His arm would fall off.

The Washington Nationals are planning to limit rookie star pitcher Stephen Strasburg this year so he won't be another Mark Prior.

Remember? Prior was throwing too much a few years ago with the Cubs when they had a real shot at reaching the World Series.

I wonder what Prior is doing now?

Much of this applies to Mahut, Isner's opponent in the marathon, too.

But he doesn't live on his serve they way Isner does.

"I'd be checking myself into the local hospital at that point ... It's an amazing effort ... But over a certain period of time, I think it takes a toll on your body mentally and physically."
-- Maria Sharapova After Mahut lost to Isner Thursday, his coaches told him to default his doubles match that day. He said he couldn't stand to lose twice in the same day, so he went back out hours later.

Wimbledon officials put him on the same court where he had played Isner.

"I thought that was just evil, really,'' Isner said. "Kudos for him going out there and gutting it out.''

Yes, that's the sports mentality. I admit I agree with it. You fight to the end, gut it out, no matter how you feel. Payment comes later.

Isner's freakish match might mean freakish payment.

"I'd be checking myself into the local hospital at that point,'' Maria Sharapova, who has fought shoulder trouble, said. "At this point, maybe the rules will be changed. You're going to have to play a tiebreaker.

"It's an amazing effort ... to come out and to be able to hit such powerful strokes and serves and just keep doing it over and over. But over a certain period of time, I think it takes a toll on your body mentally and physically.''

They don't play a tiebreaker in the fifth set at Wimbledon. It's a matter of tradition at the All England Club, but the game has changed over the past century. Even over the past two years. Racquets and strings are inflexible, meaning nothing absorbs the vibration of the ball when it hits the racquet.

Nothing but a player's arm.

You should have heard Isner sound like a TV commercial when talking about a coconut water he likes:

"A company called Vita Coco,'' he said. "It helps rehydrate me really well. Years past, I'd have issues with cramping. But ever since I've started drinking that the night before, the day of, my match, I've nipped that problem in the bud.''

He said he doesn't know of any new endorsement offers this week. At 25, though, Isner's opportunities are about to emerge on court and off. But only if he's careful.

Don't hurry back, John.

E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com